Minnesota Twins' Kevin Correia works against the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 27, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Minnesota Twins pitcher Kevin Correia makes an unassisted play at first to retire the Texas Rangers' Luis Sardinas (3) during the second inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Friday, June 27, 2014. (Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

Minnesota Twins left fielder Josh Willingham dives but is unable to stop a run-scoring double by Texas Rangers' Luis Sardinas in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 27, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. The hit scored Chris Gimenez. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

ARLINGTON, Texas — In some ways, the heavy lifting had already been done.

Eighty percent of a five-run deficit had been wiped away against Texas Rangers closer Joakim Soria as the Twins batted in the top of the ninth inning Friday night.

Rookie Jorge Polanco stood on third with one out after a two-run triple that pulled the Twins within 5-4 against a reeling Rangers club trying to end an eight-game losing streak.

Now the top of the order was coming up as a crowd of 31,111 at Globe Life Park braced for the unthinkable.

Soria, no doubt, was having flashbacks to Target Field exactly one month earlier. That’s when he blew his only save of the season amid a series of unfortunate events.

The capper that night came when another Twins rookie, Danny Santana, hit a chopper to the mound that Soria failed to corral as Eduardo Nunez came flying home from third with the winning run.

Both Santana and Nunez have since landed on the disabled list, but all-star candidate Brian Dozier was in a position to tie this one with a productive out.

Four times this season, Dozier had lifted a sacrifice fly. Another one here, and the Twins would have staved off a fourth straight defeat.

Better still, the Rangers were playing their middle infielders back, essentially conceding the tying run with the speedy Polanco on third. All Dozier had to do was put the ball in play in the right spot.

Soria got ahead 1-2 before Dozier fouled off a pitch on the outside corner.

This time, Soria went upstairs. His 90-mph fastball at eye level proved too tantalizing for Dozier to take. The Twins second baseman swung and missed for a huge strikeout, his team-high 63rd of the year.

“We had our chance,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We had a good run off of Soria there. They had the infield back, Dozier up. He just chased out of the zone a little bit.”

When Kurt Suzuki followed with a ground ball to third, the issue was settled.

The Twins had gone 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position for the second straight game.

The comeback had fallen short, and the longest Rangers’ losing streak in nearly nine full years was over.

“We had some great at-bats in that sequence,” Gardenhire said, “but up to that point we didn’t do much.”

Indeed, the Twins’ bats remained tepid against young Nick Tepesch.

For the third time in as many starts in his brief career, the Rangers right-hander was a mystery the Twins could not solve.

Kyle Gibson’s former teammate at the University of Missouri doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he kept the Twins off balance in his 7 1/3 innings of three-hit ball. Sam Fuld singled in the third, Joe Mauer did the same in the fourth and Dozier’s single in the eighth finally forced the Rangers into their bullpen.

Tepesch improved to 3-0 with a 1.31 earned-run average against the Twins. Against everybody else, he is 4-9 with a 5.01 ERA.

Polanco, who pinch hit for shortstop Pedro Florimon in the eighth, did his damage on an 0-2 pitch from the all-star closer.

“That’s a tough at-bat,” said Twins starter Kevin Correia (4-9). “This guy’s coming from A-ball and he’s got Soria. The guy throws six different curveballs. There’s no way you can know what’s coming, and he (takes) a pitch in off the plate and turns on it. That was a good sign.”

Adrian Beltre launched a two-run opposite field homer in the first that put the visitors on their heels once more. The Twins have trailed at the end of all 36 innings on this two-city road trip.

Correia got 18 outs for the fourth straight start. However, he was touched for four earned runs after giving up two combined the past three times out.

His season ERA ticked up a bit to 5.08 after Luis Sardinas and Shin-Soo Choo hit run-scoring doubles in the fifth. Both were sent in the direction of left fielder Josh Willingham, who dove headfirst and threw his body into the out-of-town scoreboard to no avail.

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